Gina: I'm happy you liked the last chapter, And thanks for your review. I consider letting Kidd and Severide talk about Andy at some point. I hope you'll like this chapter too.

So, this chapter is mainly about Casey's condition and what's ahead for him. Even if he isn't making an appearance in person, it's all about him.

Chapter XLV

The next hour was excruciating for the entire team. They had heard no news, and the tension increased everyone's uncertainty and concern. Even if no news was better than bad news, patience was put to a severe test.

"Okay," Joe Cruz was the first one to give in to his nervousness, "I can't take this anymore!" He stood up with such a force that he almost knocked down his chair.

Everyone eyed him as he continued with a loud voice. "Someone has to come and talk to us! The Captain's in there for almost two hours. They have to tell us something!"

You could see that some of his colleagues felt the same way. Had the situation been different, they might have cheered him on. But this was not the time.

Boden raised his head, and with a calm but demanding voice, he ordered, "Cruz, sit down!"

"But Chief," said Joe in an almost pleading voice.

"We all want to know how Casey is doing," his boss explained. "Someone will come with an update as soon as there is one. The most important thing is that Casey gets the best possible treatment right now."

Joe let himself fall back on his chair with a deep sigh. Brett took the opportunity and grabbed his hand, "Come on, Joe. Panic isn't going to help. As long as we don't hear anything, that's a good sign. I'm sure they would've sent someone if it's really bad."

"I don't know," Herrmann contemplated, "it's been an awfully long time."

"We just have to stay positive," was all that Sylvie answered. Her voice sounded urgent. She wouldn't let anyone break her spirit. As far as she was concerned, this day had to have a happy ending. "You'll see. There's gonna be an update soon. Everything will be fine."

And Brett was right. Just minutes after Joe's little meltdown, the door opened, and Dr. Choi and Dr. Halstead entered the waiting area. The blonde paramedic was wrong about one thing, though. It wasn't exactly a good sign that no update had yet been made.

Pretty much simultaneously, all those waiting got up from their seating positions and stared at the two doctors. Every pair of eyes was both filled with hope and fear.

Dr. Ethan Choi started to speak first, "Okay, guys! I know you all have a lot of questions. We'll try to answer them as best we can."

Boden took it for granted, to begin with, "How is he?"

Ethan looked around, and with his first sentence, he managed to reduce the firefighters' fear.

"He's alive and stable for now."

A collective sigh of relief followed.

"Thank god," mouthed Herrmann. "Geez, docs, you left us quite hanging there for a moment." And more enthusiastically, he added, "but that's just great news!"

Boden was not yet as confident as his friend. "And what's the prognosis?"

Now it was Will's turn, "well, guys, first let me say how terribly sorry I am. I know the past few hours haven't been easy for either of you."

"Nice way of showing that. Not a word in over an hour" grumbled Joe.

"Cruz," Boden admonished!

"Come on, Chief. It's true! Isn't it," insisted Joe?

"Cruz, we're aware of this, and I sincerely apologize," Will tried to concede. "But to be honest, Casey didn't make it exactly easy for us. He was extremely unstable, and for a while, it was questionable whether we could give any good news at all."

The whole team looked at him in shock. Everyone in the room had suspected something like this, but hearing it from the doctors made it real and so much more frightening.

"At the moment, he is in the intensive care unit. He's intubated, sedated, and monitored closely. His condition has been stable for about half an hour now. We hope that he will continue to improve and that we can extubate him again soon."

"What kind of condition are we talking about," Boden wanted to know?

"Casey apparently inhaled a lot of smoke in the fire, which resulted in hypercapnia. His blood gas showed very high levels of carbon dioxide, which is a classic sign of acute respiratory disease syndrome."

Everyone nodded in understanding. All firefighters must complete basic medical aid courses during their training. And given their own profession, its focus lies on the respiratory aspects. It doesn't make them experts, but it means they all knew the basics. Dr. Halstead continued with the overview of Casey's condition.

"As you know better than we do, a lot of additional toxins arise in house fires. In this case, it was mainly cyanide."

"The smoke was particularly nasty," Herrmann interjected, and all colleagues agreed with him.

"Casey himself suspected that the house had old cladding," said Mouch, recalling the conversation in the basement. "He even warned me not to take off my mask. Well, it looks like he was ignoring his own advice."

Dr. Halstead sighed. He could believe that Matt would have done something like this.

"If he did that, he definitely put himself in a dire situation," and he continued to explain his suspicions further. "It certainly would explain how the poison was able to get in his system. We often see this in civilians with smoke gas poisoning. They aren't protected by masks, and the pollutants in their blood cause low oxygen exchange in the body. And as far as we can say, that's what happened here. Casey basically threatened to suffocate internally. The body can fight against it for a while by its own means but with a time stamp on it. "

"And now," asked Herrmann, "how do you treat that?"

"Well, as Dr. Halstead said," answered Ethan, "we intubated the Captain. On the one hand, to secure the oxygen supply, on the other hand, to give the lungs time to recover. In addition, Casey is provided hydroxocobalamin. It's basically vitamin B12 and the first drug of choice for cyanide poisoning. We could already see an initial drop in cyanide levels. This is really good and should give us hope."

"But he's not out of the woods yet? Is that what you're saying," asked Boden?

"Unfortunately, Chief, that's right, "Will sighed, "but as I said at the moment, he's stable and in good hands. We have to give treatment some time, and then we go from there."

"And what if this Vitamin B thing stops helping," asked a nervous Joe Cruz? "What's the plan then?"

Will looked at him, and with confidence in his voice, he explained, "the hydroxocobalamin is working, and we have no reason to believe it will stop. It's highly unlikely to do that once it's effective. Casey's body tolerates it very well, and we're happy with how quickly he managed to adapt to the drug. So, we're confident that we're on the right course."

"That's great news, doctors! Thank you very much!" Boden stepped forward and shook their hands. "We appreciate everything you're doing for our Captain."

"No need for thanks, Chief," Dr. Choi answered. "This whole department feels for you, guys. We're happy to help in any way we can. We know what dangers you face every day in your line of work. It's an admirable work you're all doing!"

Everyone in the room went silent for a minute. They were letting sink in what they've been told.

Herrmann was the first one to speak, "Uhm, docs," he shyly asked, "does any of you two know how the kid, Casey saved, is doing? I was wondering if …." Christopher didn't want to finish his thought. He was pondering this whole time if the boy had made it or if their efforts had been for nothing. "I know it's probably against protocol, but it would really mean a big deal for us all to know. … You know, how he's doing? Wasn't an easy rescue and, …. well, I guess you know."

The two doctors glanced at each other, and Dr. Choi gave his colleague a quick nod.

Dr. Halstead turned to Herrmann.

"Dr. Manning was assigned his case," Will informed the curious firefighter. "Last I've heard, he's in the PICU. Given that he was in the same environment as Casey, he probably is treated for the same conditions. Plus, he fractured his ankle pretty badly, which will be fixed in surgery once he's otherwise stable. He's going to need PT to get full function back. But he's young, and kids do well with that kind of injuries."

Herrmann nodded, "so, he's not stable?"

Dr. Halstead sighed. He understood why the man in front of him wanted an answer, but he also felt awful to tell him. "He was in that fire a long time, and given the fact he's a child, his body is a lot smaller, and the poison was able to spread quicker. The chances of greater damage to his vital organs might be crucial. So, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but his chances to fight this are slimmer than Casey's are."

"Oh boy," Herrmann mumbled as his eyes began suspiciously to glister.

"You're telling us Casey risked his life for that boy, and he still doesn't make it?" Cruz was in utter shock over that news, and he added, "you must be kidding! What a fucking waste."

"Sorry, guys," Will said. "But sometimes, even with medicine as high as its knowledge and advances are, we simply lose."

"That sucks," Capp huffed. The bald firefighter was a man of few words, but he had his heart on the right spot and was loyal to his house as every other man. So, he didn't waste any time and asked, "can we go see Severide or Casey now?"

You could tell that he was eager to see his lieutenant. He wanted to make sure he was okay for himself before he was sent home by his chief. Which he knew would be the man's next order.

"I guess it would be okay to see Severide. He's in the IMC-Unit. Dr. Abrams, our neurosurgeon, is in charge of his case. I think it's fair to assume he'll have no problem with some of you stopping by." Will informed them. "But please keep it short and split up going in. IMCU isn't as strict with visitor regulations as ICU, but be aware some of the patients are there to be monitored for, nonetheless, difficult conditions."

"We'll do," Boden reassured him, "and thanks a lot. We won't cause any trouble and keep it short." Then he turned to his team and told them, "squad is free to go and see their lieutenant. Mind the time and keep it casual. I'm going to update the lieutenant about everything else. You don't have to worry about that. Are we clear?"

"Sure thing," Cruz told him. The man was known to be Severide's replacement whenever the squad-lieutenant was preoccupied. "Okay, guys! Let's go see how our lieutenant is doing."

Stella stood up and whispered to Boden, "don't worry, Chief. I'm going to make sure these idiots don't cause any more stress for Severide."

Boden smiled and thanked her, "Yea, you do that. And tell Kelly I plan on visiting him after his men are gone."

The female firefighter nodded and waited a few seconds because she knew Boden wanted to say some more. She didn't have to wait long.

"And Kidd, if he asks about Casey," he paused, "well, tell him that … Matt's gonna come to see him as soon as he's able to."

Technically it wasn't a lie. Only that Casey wasn't able to visit his best friend anytime soon. And if you believed the doctors, Kelly would have to be the one to go and see Matt.

"Copy that, Chief," Kidd reassured him, and with that, she ran and caught up with the others right before the doors of the elevator were shut.

Boden was glad he had Stella Kidd in his corner. He didn't have to worry about his squad-lieutenant as much as he would have a year ago. Kelly did great lately. And Wallace was admiring the young man for his bravery and perseverance he showed during the last months.

Boden knew he put a lot on Kelly's plate by assigning him to have an eye on Casey. But then again, the chief liked to think that Severide would have done it either way. Even if Christopher was right, and the two of them were left with a rift between them after Darden, he believed that their bond has never been stronger.

He was still musing about his two officers as Dr. Halstead got his attention. "Uhm, Chief Boden? Can I talk to you for a second?" And he let his eyes wander around the room and added an urgent, "alone?"

"Of course." Boden was irritated and, to be honest, a bit anxious. It was never a good sign when someone from the medical staff wanted to talk to him in private. It usually ended with one of his men sent to retirement early. And he didn't want to hear something like that. Not after he had found out that Casey had survived and was improving. If there were indeed a few new problems ahead for them, he didn't want to deal with them at the moment.

"Okay," began Will, "so ... this day's events got me thinking, and I don't know if, …"

The red-headed doctor stumbled a bit over his words. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea what he was trying to do, but he thought he had no other choice given the new circumstances.

Boden frowned at the doctor's discomfort and asked, almost impatient, "what is it, doctor? I assume it's about Captain Casey. Just tell me, and we go from there."

Will smiled shyly at him, "Okay. Uhm, I don't know if you know any of this. …. But I was treating Casey the last couple of times when he was brought into the E.D."

Boden nodded, "okay. And?"

"And, I have to say, it was quite a few times in the past few months." The doctor let that fact sink in before he continued.

"And I was wondering if something's going on; if there's any reason for this? My guess is, you know the Captain pretty well. I mean, something about it just bothers me, and I asked myself if you could help me with some details?"

Boden looked baffled at the man in front of him. A bit confused, he told him, "I'm not exactly sure what you want me to say here."

Halstead sensed he was walking on unknown territory. He didn't want to give too much of Casey's latest struggles away because the last thing that he wanted was to get the man in any trouble with his boss.

"It's just. I was talking with Matt about this the other day I saw him." Will paused again. He tried to read the battalion chief's expression and get an idea of what the other man knew. He couldn't tell for sure what Severide had been telling his boss.

Boden was getting a bit frustrated with the situation and even a bit irritated by it. He was surprised when he heard the doctor use Casey's first name in what seemed to become a personal story. He noticed that it had slipped off of the doctor's lips quite easily as if there was a friendship going on, of which he wasn't aware.

"Just spill it, Halstead," Boden tried to encourage him, to get this conversation going. He could feel the tension in him rising to a point he didn't favor at all.

Will finally said what was nagging at him since he first heard about the accident. "I don't think you know this, but I helped Casey through some medical obstacles these past few days, and I have reason to believe he shouldn't have been on active duty today."

"Well, doc! I wasn't aware," Boden informed him a bit grimly. "What gives you this impression? And why am I only hearing about this now?" Even if his voice sounded reproachful, the focus was on concern for his employee.

Will felt anyway a sense of unease rising in himself, but he continued with certainty, "I think, no, I know that's partly my fault. I did clear him for work. But I think I shouldn't have. And because of that, I guess I need you to know that, whatever happens to Matt ..." The doctor took a break, choosing his words wisely. He didn't want to sound too promising, as he kept going. "... and assuming his lungs can withstand the additional strain, and if he makes a full recovery. I have to inform you, … even if that's way down the road, …, I wanted to let you know that I'm not gonna clear Casey any time soon to come back for full duty." Halstead straightened his stand and looked at Boden, "I just thought, you as his Chief, should be aware of it."

Boden sighed, and although he had no idea about anything that this doctor was saying, he felt for him.

"First, let me say that I've been battling the same guilt as you have for these last few hours." Both felt sorry for the other. "I knew Casey wasn't in his best shape. And hearing you say the things you've just said. I guess it's a fair point to assume he hid something from me."

A silence followed this assumption. Will neither confirmed nor denied Wallace's suspicion.

So, the other continued, "I know you have your rights to maintain patient-doctor confidentiality, and I respect that. So, I'm not gonna ask any further." This earned him a thankful nod from the doctor. But Boden wasn't finished yet, "but be sure I'll ask questions later. Matt has to come clean after today's event! He not only jeopardized his life on that call."

Halstead fully understood the chief and held out his hand, "I appreciate you're respecting my role in this. Thank you for that." And both men shook hands.

Boden's tension lessened a bit as he said, "I have to say, I'm glad Casey has someone looking out for him, besides his family at 51."

Halstead nodded. "He's a good guy but has some troubles lined up." Will smirked as he admitted, "as we all do, from time to time." He looked at Boden and had the urge to let him know, "Chief, there is no way I want to harm Casey by disclosing private things. All I want is to help."

Boden smiled at him, and in his calm voice, he let him know, "I appreciate this, and I'm sure Casey does too."

Will smiled back. "Thank you, and I hope so. But to be honest, sometimes it feels like he's not too keen about it. He's a bit of a tough one to be looked after. But as a doctor, I also have a certain obligation towards my patients. I have made it my personal goal to give everyone the best possible treatment to get healthy. In any way that I can. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens that certain patients cannot see what is best for them."

"I think I can follow. I've reached my limits with Matthew Casey occasionally. Be sure that I will take what you've said into account in my further steps."

Again, there was an uncomfortable silence. Will hoped that he had done the right thing. He knew he had to say something to the chief. Casey had been admitted to the emergency room way too many times lately, and Will had serious concerns regarding his mental status after the last time he had seen him. When he heard about this accident, he felt guilty for giving him an all-clear. Obviously, he hadn't been ready to get back to work.

Boden had learned a lot from this talk with Dr. Halstead, although no actual details were revealed. But the older firefighter was good at reading between the lines, and the specific concern that the doctor reflected, increased his own worries for his captain. In the end, it was the battalion chief who resumed the conversation.

"Okay, so. To be clear, we seem to both want the same thing. Maybe it's not a bad idea if we work together. I don't know how exactly I'm going to approach this yet, but I guess I'll find a way to handle the problem better than I've done so far."

Halstead looked at Boden and said, "I'm in. Whatever you need, tell me, and I'll try to support you."

Wallace smiled gratefully. "I will. But first, you'll have to answer some more questions!"

"I'll try my best."

Boden sighed, "I have to know what's going on with Casey at the moment?" A gloomy mood settled in his eyes as he fearfully asked, "Be honest with me. What are his chances?"

"Chief, Dr. Choi and I, we haven't left anything out. It was close, no question about it, but I assume Matt will make it. Yes, there's still a chance of complications. And as long as he's not breathing on his own, he's not entirely out of the woods, but his stats were already much better as we went down here to talk to you guys."

"That's good," Boden said in relief. "What's next?"

"As I said, the next crucial step will be to wean him off the ventilator. My guess would be, we'll try that in about 24 hours from now. If he tolerates it well, he could be released from the ICU."

"And if not?" Boden's question reflected his inner tumult.

"Then we wait another 24 hours," was the doctor's simple answer.

"What about permanent damages? You've said 'if he makes a full recovery.' What I get from that is that there's a chance that he will not." Boden was clearly thinking ahead of things. "You've talked about his lungs a lot. Are there going to be difficulties? And if, how severe are they?"

Images of Jose Vargas had haunted the battalion chief since the doctors brought up the fact that chemicals were at fault. The former firefighter had also come into contact with toxic fumes and never recovered from them. Boden didn't even know where the man was currently living. He shuddered at the possibility that his friendship with Casey was heading into something similar.

Halstead picked up on the other man's worried expression and sighed, "Okay, I know you want to know every possible outcome, but I can't give you those. It's true, his lungs took a bad hit, and there are a couple of complications possible, but as I said before, I'm confident they won't happen."

"Just humor me," Boden pressed on.

"Look, Chief. Casey inhaled a lot of smoke. His lungs were full of soot when we intubated him. But we did something called bronchoalveolar lavage. Normally it's a minimally invasive procedure to collect samples of tissues, but it also allows us to eliminate unwanted particles and stuff. To keep it simple, we basically washed Matt's lungs. And now they have to heal."

"Okay, I get it. You try to spare me some sleepless nights. But what about recovery? Can you talk about time? I mean, how long will it take?"

"It's hard to say at this point. First, Casey has to do well on breathing on his own. He's going to be on a lot of antibiotics and inhalants." Halstead summed it up by telling the chief, "listen! It mainly depends on Casey's general condition. And on his own empowerment and motivation to follow treatment and therapy. I'm not going to lie. It's gonna be rough on him to adjust, but I think his will to get back doing what you all do will help him thru it. But as I mentioned earlier, if it has my way, it won't be too soon. Not this time."

Boden smiled at Halstead, "I hope you're right. I hate the thought that maybe Casey can no longer function as an officer for the CFD. He worked so hard for it. And he has already lost so much. I'm afraid an early disability pension would be the worst thing for his mental health right now."

"Why don't we focus on the next 24 hours? Everything else can wait. And I'm sure there is a solution for everything. "

"You are right, doc. Sometimes I tend to be a little too hasty in trying to find a problem. Maybe it just takes time and patience?"

"Sounds perfectly plausible to me, Chief!" Halstead patted him on the shoulder. "I'll keep you updated."

Boden was grateful, "Thanks to you and your team. We're lucky to have you guys. When can I see Casey?" Boden asked cautiously. "I know ICU has strict visiting orders, but I want you to know, I'm not going home until I can see Matt."

"I get it. And I think we could make an exception. In fact, why don't you come with me right now? I was about to go and see for myself how he's doing."

"Okay. Great. I'll brief my truck lieutenant quickly and then meet you at the elevator."